Saturday, 16 July 2016

Saturday, July 16, 2016

SAN FRANCISCO, July 15 (Reuters) -
Access was restricted in Turkey on Friday to Facebook Inc, Twitter Inc
and Alphabet Inc's YouTube shortly after news that a military coup was
under way, according to two internet monitoring groups.Twitter's
official global public policy team tweeted: "We have no reason to think
we've been fully blocked in #Turkey, but we suspect there is an
intentional slowing of our traffic in country."YouTube said it was aware of reports its site was down in Turkey but that "our systems seem to be functioning normally."Facebook declined to comment.Turkey
Blocks, a group that monitors internet shutdowns in the country, and
Dyn, which monitors internet performance and traffic globally, both
reported it was difficult or impossible to access social media services
in Turkey.Turkey's military said on Friday it had seized power, but the prime minister said the attempted coup would be put down.The
Turkish government under President Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly moved
to block social media in periods of crisis and political uncertainty. It
was not immediately clear whether the government or another actor
ordered the block late Friday.Erdogan
took to Twitter to speak to Turkish citizens, although he has said in
the past that he is against social media. He also used Apple Inc's
FaceTime to deliver a statement to a local TV station, where he said the
uprising would be unsuccessful.After
the coup was underway, Erdogan tweeted: "I call our nation to the
airports and the squares to take ownership of our democracy and our
national will."The government normally implements its internet restrictions through orders to Turkey's main internet service providers.The
Turkish government has throttled social media at least three times this
year, said Access Now, a digital rights advocacy group."People
in Turkey will need access to information and, if there is violence,
access to emergency services - all of which depend on stable
communications channels," Access Now said in a statement.Some
social media users within Turkey reported late Friday that they were
able to access Facebook, Twitter and YouTube normally and no longer
needed to use a virtual private network, which can access the internet
via another country. (Reporting by Yasmeen Abutaleb in San Francisco;
Editing by James Dalgleish)